In In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California jury awarded Best Buy Co. $75 million in damages against HannStar Display Corp., finding that HannStar participated in an Asia-based conspiracy to fix prices on LCD panels. The jury’s award is a fraction of the $770 million Best Buy sought in its suit […]
Author Archives: Steve Semeraro
Court Awards Best Buy $75 million in Damages After an LCD Price Fixing Trial
September 19, 2013 – 2:50 pm
Court Refuses to Dismiss a Multimillion Dollar Antitrust Suit Against a Prom Dress Maker
September 19, 2013 – 1:44 pm
In Hannah’s Boutique Inc. v. Surdej et al., Northern District of Illinois Judge Amy J. St. Eve denied dress seller Peaches Boutique’s motion to dismiss a multimillion dollar suit against it. In this suit, an upstart dress seller Hannah’s Boutique Inc. accused Peaches of violating U.S. antitrust laws by using its dominant position in the […]
Fifth Circuit Overturns a $25 Million Fine Against Chicken Producer
September 19, 2013 – 1:25 pm
In Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. v. Agerton et al., Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a $25 million judgment against Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., holding that the chicken producer did not violate the U.S. antitrust laws when it decided to shut down its Arkansas plant in order to increase poultry prices. In 2011, Texas federal judge […]
ITC Sees No Consumer Harm in Banning Imports of Electronic Products
September 8, 2013 – 11:46 am
In In the Matter of Certain Electronic Digital Media Devices and Components Thereof, the U.S. International Trade Commission staff has found that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that banning imports of its smartphones and tablets that infringed Apple’s patents would harm consumers. Last October, Administrative Law Judge Thomas B. Pender ruled that […]
EU Fines Patented Drug Maker and Generics for Reverse Payment Settlement
September 8, 2013 – 11:43 am
The European Commission fined Lundbeck $125.6 million for paying its competitors, Merk KGaA, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Xellia Pharmaceuticals, in 2002 to delay entering the market with generic versions of Lundbeck’s antidepressant citalopram. Joaquin Almunia, EC vice president for competition policy, explained that the Commission could not accept “that a company pays off its competitors to […]
US Supreme Court Permits Antitrust Challenges to Reverse Payment Settlements
September 8, 2013 – 11:40 am
In FTC v. Actavis, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a settlement in a patent infringement case in which the patent holder pays money to the alleged infringer not to introduce its product into the market could violate the antitrust laws under the Rule of Reason. The Court rejected the scope-of-the-patent doctrine that had been adopted […]
Court Allows Antitrust Scholarship Cap Suit Against the NCAA to Proceed
August 21, 2013 – 1:07 pm
In John Rock v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, Southern District of Indiana Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson refused to dismiss former Gardner-Webb University quarterback John Rock’s antitrust class action over the NCAA’s scholarship cap, holding that plaintiff’s amended complaint sufficiently defined a relevant market. Rock sued NCAA, alleging that NCAA’s former ban on multiyear scholarships and the […]
Antitrust Regulators Sue to Block $11 Billion Airline Merger
August 21, 2013 – 12:45 pm
U.S. Department of Justice, and attorneys general for six states and the District of Columbia sued to block the $11 billion merger of U.S. Airways and American Airlines, potentially disrupting a deal that shareholders, creditors, and European officials have already approved. The DOJ and the attorneys general claim the merger would create the world’s largest […]
Court Denies Both Parties’ Summary Judgment Motions in Neurontin MDL
August 21, 2013 – 12:16 pm
In In Re Neurontin Antitrust Litigation, New Jersey District Court Judge Faith S. Hochberg denied both parties’ motions for summary judgment, saying there are many factual disputes that must be resolved. In this multidistrict suit, direct purchaser plaintiffs, including CVS Pharmacy Inc., Rite Aid Corp., Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. Inc., and Meijer Inc., accuse Pfizer […]